


City Summer

by Jecyth



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Angst?, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Slightly out of it Barry Allen, abuse in the story will read like huck finn, but definitely not to that degree, i saw a panel while reading the flash annual and bam, right before wally becomes kid flash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-04 10:47:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14018622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jecyth/pseuds/Jecyth
Summary: Wally’s parents are both suckers. Rudy has a one-sided shit relationship with his incredibly forgetful father and Mary likes to tell herself that she has good intentions. Wally is somewhat delusional and apathetic. Iris will do her best to fix all of this.





	1. Chapter 1

He doesn’t think about it too much when his parents say he’s going out of town for the summer. A vacation. The realization of those words into reality is a rare occurrence, usually thrown around when the hankering for a break spurts out after a long day of work.

It honestly sounds like a treat, but knowing Mom and Dad...

Wally just nods and sits still. Still like the drawings and action figures that circle around him. It feels weird playing save-the-day with his parents hanging at the door. He dimly notes the smug huffiness that curls around Mom’s exhale and the taste of slightly acquiescent air that surrounds his father.

His Mom likes to complain that he’s already become one of “ _those_ ” teenagers. Dad says he doesn’t see a difference and _“Would you refill my coffee, please?”_

Bickering and snapping become white noise and Wally leaves the house to go to school. Testing and the “S.O.L.” have already been finished, the teacher promising that third grade was a cinch and the future would be eternal hell forever and ever.

Franky starts pelting pieces of balled-up loose leaf paper at his hair.

He doesn’t see the point of the last day of school.

|***|

Her older brother, Rudy, had called over on the phone and, really, strange phone calls from him weren’t unusual, but those instances only happened when he was especially tipsy and was wanting to crank about Daddy and his own wife and kid. Oh, curse the burden of the middle child.

“You know that woman I married after graduation?”

Oh no. “You mean Mary? Mary the high school sweetheart who you swore your life to? God, Rudy, you know Dad said--”

Like any good brother, Rudy interrupts her. “Well, it turns out she’s the Devil, so if she happens to call you, don’t make any deals with--” A high voice can be heard in the background. “No! I’m talking to my co-workers! It’s a meeting, we’re having a _meeting_ right now dammi--”

A shrill _“Don’t you lie to me!”_ breaks through the phone. Iris worries that things will start to escalate quickly, and would it be rude to hang up in this kind of situation?

It’s a symphony of “Give me the phone!” and “Get away from me, crazy woman!” and she wonders if the neighbors can hear them through their small, Blue Valley home.

The sound of long nails tapping against the hardness of the telephone and a sweet, slightly scratchy voice comes out of the speaker. “This is Iris, right? It’s me, your sister-in-law, Mary. Long time no see! I’ve heard about your acceptance to…news reporting?”

Iris didn’t know why she couldn’t control the nervous laugh that bubbled out from her. “Hi Mary, uhm, yeah, I-I’m just an intern,” Where the _heck_ was Rudy? “I--you know, just practicing to be one…without…pay.” She winces. That sounded wrong, she was actually really grateful for the opportunity. A dear friend had given it to her. “Eh heh, anyway, long time no see to you too.”

Mary gave one of those long _I’m-going-to-start-talking-about-my-woes-and-problems_ sighs that made Iris’ forehead ache. “You know my good son, Wally?”

Iris does know him.

She remembers how bright the baby’s eyes were and the way his _beautiful_ red hair curled on his soft head. She pictured freckles dancing on the unmarked cheeks. Iris had toyed with the idea that she and the baby were blood-related. To have an even littler brother who wasn’t a mean dumb Danny. Thirteen-year-old Irey asked Rudy if she could play with him _forever_.

“What about him? He’s doing fine, right?”

Another sigh. “It’s just that--Well, I was wondering if you’d be interested in having my son over for the summer. He’s never seen the city before and I think it would be a good time for him to see some…oh, you know, new sights.”

A really bad show of changing the subject and Iris starts to really wonder how Wally is doing.

“Of course, just tell me the date.”

|***|

It’s the last day of school. Not even getting to take one step into home and his bags were packed and he was ushered backward over the doorsteps. Wally swears he would have fallen over and cracked his head if it wasn’t for his mother yanking back his suitcase to squeeze in a flip phone.

“Happy early birthday present, make sure to send out a text when you arrive. There's going to be a lady with red hair walking near the bus stop.” His father is hovering around the entrance looking upset.

 _Who?_ Wally wants to ask, should ask, but he doesn’t and Mom was already walking back inside the house.

The door opens again to let out a “Don’t get lost!” and slams close.

|***|

The bus ride is boring. The old lady hunched in the seat next to him has her mouth open and eyes closed. Really, the number of wrinkles on her body was obscene and Wally was hoping he could stay young forever until he died. Or something.

All his comic books had been thrown away so he had nothing to keep himself company with. He still feels sour about that, the sparse allowance he could scourge from his mysterious grandparents all wasted, forever lost in a dump somewhere near the ocean.

 _Paper goes into the recycling bin_ his kindergarten teacher sings.

Comic books weren’t _that_ important, Wally had tried to reassure his mopey self.

But they were of _the_ Flash, some other voice had chastised, and to have that loss is something to _never_ be forgiven for.

The bus ride is very, very boring.

|***|

Wally was staring at his finished homework when Dad had called his name from downstairs. A slight twinge of instinctual panic and it’s gone as he slips off the seat.

The door to the master bedroom was closed which meant Mom had locked the door. She was probably taking a shower.

His father was sitting on the couch. Wally feels better when Dad is down in a position likes this. He looks more subdued and fatherly with his tired features and soft sweater matching the light brown of the couch. “Your mother wants a divorce.”

He doesn’t feel scared at the mention of the word. He does, however, start to feel nervous at the crack of the master bedroom door opening.

Mom is drunk and somehow that’s a thousand times worse than Dad. Dad also looks worried.

Wally wants to be in his room.


	2. Little Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It feels lonely.

The employees promise her that the coffee delivering and such will only last for a few weeks. Two weeks would most likely be the worst case scenario. One of the people that sit with her at lunch says that they can’t wait to have her on screen as a permanent.

She tries not to feel bitter about these coming of events.

She’d like to say it’s her personality or the way she articulates her words, _anything_. Anything but because of the one time a _superhero_ decides to do a drop in on her. She doesn’t know how to hold on to the _Flash_ of all heroes and she definitely doesn’t want to be the Lois Lane of the Gem cities. There’s a forum she looked up that keeps track of the number of times Superman’s Girl Friday had gotten to experience near total annihilation.

She has a fiancé. Iris wonders if it was because of the recent superhero that he seems so distant, except her fiancé has always been the mellow type. There she goes again, worrying too much about nothing. She never wants him to feel insecure or upset.

The employees tell her that she’s just like her darling, Nobel Prize-winning father. When she pauses to think about it, it wasn’t really the best compliment in the world, but they were saying good things about her father so she’d gladly take it.

Iris leaves the station at the end of her eight o’ clock shift and as she heads towards her usual bus stop, she feels a familiar pang in some far away corner of her mind. Best forget about it lest she wants for it to haunt her mind until the end of her life.

|***|

He’s running and he’s free.

No one can stop him. No one can touch him. No one.

He has to remind himself. He has to remind himself that _they_ are all human. That they are citizens too.

It’s easy to lose control when there’s no one around. He could just. Just.

And that sometimes scares him, but why was he scared in the first place?

Everyone is so slow. So dumb. The slow, horribly slow, _incredibly slow_ , shifts in their muscles make them morons. He can’t help to analyze their faces. _Was that Iris? Iris. Iris?_ The muscles seem tense and brittle. Like he could just reach out with his hand and break it off.

And that thought makes him feel guilty and worried. Scared. He has to concentrate to get rid, _get rid_ , of the feeling.

He wants someone to be with him. It hurts. He wants to shake and cry. Hold someone. Not hurt. Why was he so scared?

The world freezes around him and he’s stuck. Stuck to the ground, nowhere to go, because _what’s the point?_

He swears he’s not doing this on purpose. Oh God, he _swears_. It’s hard for him to catch up to other people.

He’s Barry Allen. Fastest Man Alive.

|***|

His parents, or his Mom now that Wally thinks about it, hadn’t really thought over the traveling part of his summer vacation as much as she could have. There wasn’t really a one-way bus that would take a person 200 miles across farmlands and middle-of-nowheres.

As much as the thought of taking his chances with the Wild West sounded appealing, Wally felt that following through such choice wouldn’t be very decent of himself and so he stubbornly stuck to schedule.

Wally ended up spending his lunch and souvenir money on train tickets and bus rides to trains. The gift of his precious limited edition cereal box toy endeared a bus driver enough to accept a payment of one dollar.

No more money except for the change that couldn’t buy a candy bar at a gas station in the middle of actual nowhere. He was out of toys too, but, really, he should be able to pass the blame to someone else since he wasn’t the one who packed everything.

Could people die from not drinking water for two days? He wasn’t going to be lost forever for two days, was he? At least he had a bag of crackers.

Wally reached for his phone, hoping to ask for some guidance on what he should do next.

Oh.

His phone was honest to God brand new. Void of numbers and everything. That had put an extra pound into his heart and he found himself struggling to remember the last 5 numbers of his Mom’s phone number.

Operation Hitch-A-Ride is a go. Use young looks to full advantage.

|***|

Central city, Wally realizes, is a very big city. He's the only one standing still as everyone else moves with a disguise of purpose.

Mom told him to look for a red-haired lady. Yet as Wally looked and looked, there was no red-haired lady to be seen.

He’s heard of “Stranger Danger”, written into a song from the worn VHS that the teacher dutifully pops in at the beginning of every year.

Commotion that makes him nervous. Everyone is looking at one direction and loud noises can be heard from a Romanesque building with the words ‘BANK’ carved into its white stone.

People are waving their hands and cheering, a red streak goes by and Wally feels his heart pumping and lungs shaking. _The Flash._ Wally wants to scream and jump around too.

|***|

Barry is the fastest man alive. Even Jay Garrick the original Flash had to go over light speed a few or dozen times.

The mixture of the chemicals surrounding the little boy makes for a beautiful scene.

The lightning does too.

It isn’t painful, is it?

_Wally._

Barry wonders how the boy would breathe. _Just like me_ , he hopes.

Was it selfish? The world would gain another hero, Barry would make sure.

They will run together.

For the first time in these past months, Barry feels relief. Relief that he isn’t the only one in the world. He doesn’t have to be scared. His thoughts are clear and the start of a new connection is imminent.

After all, Green Arrow has a sidekick. It wouldn’t be so different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got an idea of what this could be.  
> I always thought about how strange it was that Barry Allen, the Flash, faster than light, just stands there as his fiancee's nephew gets doused with chemicals and lightning.
> 
> Also, I don't know if this is true, but Speedy was the first sidekick in canon timeline? I remember seeing some table that depictured the years of the appearances of heroes in DC time.


End file.
